This iteration seems more compelling in the sense that the chips can monitorgrid conditions directly and minimizes the impact on consumer by reducing power consumption in more nuanced ways.
In northern California alone, the current power deficit averages 2, 000 to 3, 000 megawatts per hour, according to the California Independent System Operator, the agency set up to monitor the state's power grid.
Multiply that by millions of customers in a metro area, and a smart grid can produce a data set large enough to monitor power demand in real time and predict probable outages before they occur.